Finance Committee - 5/16/2018 Page 13
MOTION BY ALDERWOMAN KELLY TO ACCEPT, PLACE ON FILE AND AUTHORIZE THE CITY TO
ENTER INTO THE MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING WITH REVIVE RECOVERY FOR PEER
RECOVERY SUPPORT SUPERVISION
ON THE QUESTION
Alderman Caron
Could Director Bagley give us a brief overview as to exactly what this person is going to do, if you mind Mayor?
Mayor Donchess
| don’t mind at all. That will be very helpful.
Alderman Caron
Thank you.
Bobbie Bagley, Director of the Division of Public Health & Community Services
Good evening, thank you. Bobbie Bagley Director of the Division of Public Health & Community Services.
This memorandum of understanding is to allow for Al Matkowsky who is our licensed Alcohol & Drug
Counselor to work with Revive Recovery to provide peer support services with volunteers that will be working
with the city in response to the opioid crises. So as you are away for the past 2 years we have seen a
significant increase in overdoses and deaths as a result of the opioid crisis or substance use disorder.
As a collaborative effort in our response, we have been able to train a number of individuals to act as peer
recovery coaches. So these are individuals that may have experience themselves with substance use disorder
but are in recovery, but because they understand the complexity of recovery, they are ideal to work with
individuals and provide a warm touch or support individuals as they make it through their recovery course or
journey. They need support themselves, because they are working with individuals that may end up in
situations that could be complex but also could trigger their possible response to a particular situation.
So Al Matkowsky who is a licensed alcohol and drug counselor will provide support for those individuals so
that they will meet with him to talk about the individuals that they may be working with to make sure that they
are safe and they handling situations appropriately. There is no funding that is required from the City other
than what we are already paying Al Matkowsky who works under the Division to do substance use disorder
counseling with individuals and will work with these recovery coaches. These volunteers actually will be
working with Revive Recovery as well so get people connected to that resource and he will meet with
individuals there to provide these support services and group sessions.
Alderman Caron
So our staff person is going to work with the people who are working as part of the other project that we just
approved, Revive Recovery? Is that what my ...
Mayor Donchess
| think it is an expansion of the project. So what we are funding, Jessica Parnell, who is working full time as a
recovery coach, but there are also volunteers who are willing to undertake volunteer services on a when they
are available basis. So Al who has been working for the City on and off for decades really, he is part-time but
he is very knowledgeable. He’s a degreed, licensed recovery professional, licensed alcohol and drug
counselor. He is going to help teach and educate these volunteers as to what they need to know about
performing the services of a recovery coach on a volunteer basis. Is that accurate?
